The present invention relates to a pickup truck attachment and especially to a pickup truck attachment having a storage compartment covered by a platform for mounting in the cargo space of a pickup truck and having a folding canopy or awning structure mounted to the platform.
In the past, it has been common to provide pickup trucks with a wide variety of attachments for fitting into the cargo space. A common attachment is for tool boxes which are mounted in the cargo space and attached to the sides of the cargo space. There have also been a variety of dog boxes for attaching in pickup trucks as well as various types of camping bodies including rigid covers and foldable canopy and tent structures. Typical prior art patents which show collapsible canopies or tent structures for pickup truck cargo space can be seen in the Feather U.S. Pat. No. 3,688,787 for a longitudinal collapsible canopy for pickup trucks and analogous frames and in the Westmoreland U.S. Pat. No. 2,436,736 for a collapsible canopy frame for a pickup truck and in the Rodrigue U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,363 for a foldaway canopy for a flatbed truck. Also in Biller U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,194 for a tent camper for a pickup truck and in the Bourgeois U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,346 for a collapsible protective mechanism for a pickup truck and in the Cook U.S. Pat. No. 2,670,988 for a folding pickup truck top. These patents typically have a flexible canopy or tent covering material and a plurality of frame members which can be set up or folded to support the canopy to enclose all or part of the cargo space of a pickup truck.
In the Knaack et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,731 a vehicle storage drawer unit attaches to the bottom of a pickup truck cargo space to define a storage drawer which can still carry a load on top of the drawer. In the LeVee U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,695 a watertight, secured truck enclosure is provided in the pickup truck cargo space and the Musgrove et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,990 is a waterproof truck bed cover. The Ogilvie U.S. Pat. No. 3,245,713 is for a pickup truck body construction and the Beals U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,775 is a load bearing security cover for a pickup truck.
In contrast to these prior art canopies and covers for pickup trucks, the present invention provides for a dog box or storage space for a pickup truck having a supporting platform mounting thereover which has the foldable canopy attachment attached to the platform and which has chairs removably mounted to the platform, which chairs are readily removable for use at a campsite.